Chinese October Crude Runs at Second Highest on Record

Oil

China's crude oil processing runs in October stood at 11.9M b/d, down by 0.9% or 112K b/d from September's record high but still up 7.4% or 818K b/d y-o-y and the second highest on record, according to data by China's statistics bureau released on Tuesday. Average monthly refinery output in 2017 so far rose by 5% or 551K b/d compared to the same 10-month period a year ago.

Throughput rose strongly because margins are firm and several new units began operations including PetroChina's 0.26M b/d Anning refinery and CNOOC's 0.2M b/d Huizhou refinery, which are still not at full capacity.